


you annoy me daily (but you still fucking amaze me)

by worry



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Enemies to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 01:03:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8556661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worry/pseuds/worry
Summary: Then Ms. Branwell arrives at Raphael's desk, and Raphael knows that the outcome of this will not be good.
"Raphael, you're on set design. Along with..."
She looks around the room like she's forgotten someone.
"Oh, Jace Wayland."
"What?" Raphael asks, because literally anyone else is tolerable but he will never work with Jace Wayland. 
(Or:  the one where Raphael and Jace get paired up in drama class, and spoiler alert: he works with Jace Wayland. Who is actually an okay guy. And - you didn't hear it from him - an amazing kisser. It's a very interesting story.)





	

Raphael can tell you stories about Jace Wayland that would make your mind explode.

 

Pretty much any kid at school can tell you stories about Jace Wayland that would make your mind explode.

 

Exhibit A: two days ago, Jace Wayland was found sitting on the school's roof. Not in a suicidal way, they said, he was just - sitting there. Watching the sky or some other disgusting fluffy thing along the same lines as watching the sky. He came down without argument.

 

Exhibit B: Jace Wayland is currently standing in front of him, asking for yesterday's history notes because he was sick. Also, he's wearing short sleeves for the first time in his life and Raphael is hoping that those thick, dark marks that cover his arms are just temporary tattoos. Because, despite the fact that no one at this school gives a shit about the dress code, the teachers will  _end_ you if your tank top straps are one millimeter under regulation. Tattoos? Un-fucking-heard of. They're cool, but even though Raphael kind of maybe hates him, he _really_ doesn't want to see Jace sentenced to detention for the rest of the century.

 

All that Raphael can say to him is: "You should've come to school yesterday."

 

"I was throwing up every five minutes," Jace replies. "Unless you _wanted_ to see me puke all over your seventy-five dollar Kanken backpack."

 

"I got it at a thrift store for five dollars," Raphael corrects.

 

"Oh, yeah? My bad."

 

"I'll give you the notes," Raphael says, "but first, I want you to be completely honest and tell me that you're feeling better. I don't really want vomit all over the notes I'm going to need for tomorrow's test."

 

"I'm  _fine,_ Raphael," Jace says in a slight growl, and then - and  _then._ And then, magically, because Raphael knows all of Jace's buttons and how to push them, his face falls. "We have a test tomorrow?"

 

"He just told us about it yesterday. I take it you're unprepared."

 

Jace's jaw clenches. "No, I'm prepared."

 

"Then you won't need these."

 

"Would you just give me the notes?"

 

Raphael smiles and hands Jace his notebook.

 

"Thank you."

 

Jace walks back to his lunch table. Raphael bites his lip; he takes it back, seeing Jace sentenced to detention for the rest of the century would probably be the best gift the world could give him.

 

* * *

 

"You're gonna eat your fries, right?" asks Simon Lewis, and Raphael wonders, for the billionth time, why they're friends.

 

"You can have them if you want," Raphael says nonchalantly. He probably shouldn't still be thinking about Jace Wayland's tattooed arms, but whatever. If Simon wants his food, Simon can have his food. All of it. Raphael isn't hungry, anyways - Jace stole his hunger.

 

Raphael looks over and Simon has two small french fries hanging from his mouth like vampire fangs. He's probably the most annoyingly endearing person on the planet.

 

He laughs - okay, it's more like a chuckle, because according to Simon he's "incapable of truly laughing" and Simon is sadly right. It doesn't matter, though. He's laughing and the fries fall right of Simon's mouth.

 

"That's gross."

 

"Someone's happy," Simon says, ignoring him and waggling his eyebrows in a way that suggests Simon's next words will not be pleasant. 

 

"I'm...  _neutral._ "

 

"Yeah," he says. "Who is it? Who did you run into?"

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

 

"Oh. It's Ja—"

 

"I hate him," Raphael interrupts. "You know I hate him, right?"

 

"Hate is a very strong word."

 

Raphael sighs. "Simon, I love you, but please stop imagining things that aren't there. I hate him and he hates me and that's it."

 

"You love me?" Simon asks, fluttering his eyelashes.

 

"You know I do," Raphael replies. "But seriously, please."

 

"Okay, sorry," Simon says, throwing his hands up, and then, through divine intervention or something, the lunch bell rings and Raphael is out of the cafeteria, into English, very far away from any mention of Jace Wayland.

 

* * *

 

 Raphael is about ninety percent sure that their drama teacher  _despises_ him. He got stuck in this stupid class because he had to fulfill a stupid art credit (why do they make you go through the hell that is drama class before you can graduate?  _Why_?) and it's agonizing. It's completely agonizing.

 

But, okay, drama class would probably be less agonizing if they had a different teacher. Any teacher that isn't Ms. Branwell, who is dead-set on ruining the lives of every single one of her students. She has it out for Raphael specifically, though, he's sure of it.

 

Apparently, this year they're doing Romeo and Juliet, because Ms. Branwell is completely unoriginal and couldn't think of anything else. The worst part of it all is that, according to her,  _everyone_ is going to have a role in the play. Some of the kids will be the lead actors, some of the kids will be stuck as extras (Raphael can see her casting him as something ridiculous like Backgrounder #16, because of course), and some kids - some unlucky kids - are going to be stuck with the play production. Set design, lighting, music, whatever, all of that.

 

"Clary Fray," she says, walking over to Clary's desk, "I think you'd make a good Juliet."

 

She turns to the left, stares straight at Simon. "And Simon, you're Romeo."

 

Simon's eyebrows raise, and Ms. Branwell sighs. "No, you two don't have to kiss, I get it. That would be weird, right? Don't worry, I won't make you do anything you don't want to do."

 

"Good," Simon says, "because, like, I know Clary is my best friend, but I'm not into her. Also, she's gay, so you know."

 

Her eyes widen, probably to say something like  _I Really Don't Care Who She Likes I Went To Prestigious Drama School And Now I'm Stuck At A Public High School Teaching A Bunch Of Incompetent Fifteen Year Olds How Is This My Life._

 

"Alec, you're Mercutio...."

 

She continues reading off names. Magnus gets Benvolio, and Isabelle, Hodge, and Lily are extras, but it doesn't matter because Raphael knows that Isabelle will just use this as an excuse to rehearse closer to Clary because honestly everyone in the entire world can see it, and Raphael knows that Magnus and Alec will use this as an excuse to be together as well. Pretty much everyone in school is paired up. Clary and Isabelle (it'll happen soon, Raphael can feel it), Magnus and Alec...

 

And then Ms. Branwell arrives at Raphael's desk, and Raphael knows that the outcome of this will  _not_ be good.

 

"Raphael, you're on set design. Along with..."

 

She looks around the room like she's forgotten someone.

 

"Oh, Jace Wayland."

 

"What?" Raphael asks, because literally anyone else is tolerable but he will  _never_ work with Jace Wayland.

 

"I said you're on set design with Jace."

 

"Can I be an extra instead?"

 

"We don't need anyone else."

 

" _Please._ "

 

"Raphael, I'm sorry, but this is what you're doing."

 

"But—"

 

"Now, class," she says, tightening her ponytail and completely ignoring him, "we will have a few rehearsals, but you're going to need to work on this in your free time. Tomorrow we're going to continue with our regular lesson. Raphael and Jace, it's your responsibility to create the set, obviously. Why don't you meet up sometime and research previous performances?"

 

Raphael watches Jace at the other end of the classroom. He's - smiling? He's smiling. He's probably smiling at the thought of ruining Raphael's life.

 

"Yeah, okay," he says. "See you after school, Raphael."

 

Raphael can't exactly  _refuse,_ because if he does Ms. Branwell will chew him up and spit him out, so he just... gives up. What if he had plans after school? He doesn't, and he hasn't had after school plans in a very long time, but it's a valid question. Jace must  _really_ hate him.

 

"See you after school," he says back, clenching his teeth.

 

Ms. Branwell gives instructions to the other students as Jace begins to initiate a deadly staring contest with him. 

 

Raphael's life is over.

 

* * *

 

 

The  _sane_ thing to do would be going home, ignoring Jace and completely forgetting about their assignment. But apparently, Raphael has completely lost his mind.

 

He's not sure  _why_ he's waiting for Jace, considering the fact that it's been like half an hour since school ended and Jace is nowhere to be found. It'd be ironic: Raphael actually waiting for Jace, actually giving a shit about something, and Jace refusing to show up after making (albeit horrible) plans with him. There's absolutely no way Raphael is failing drama, though. He won't let it happen. He  _won't._

 

 

This is so like him. This is typical Jace, honestly. Of  _course_ he would do this. Raphael is ridiculous for thinking that anything would change.

 

Raphael checks his phone, plays around on Twitter for a while. Pulls out his notebook and starts writing - what he can remember of Romeo and Juliet. Which is: Juliet's family fucking hates Romeo because he's the son of their enemy or whatever, he meets Juliet at a party because of course, they fall in love, Juliet dies but doesn't, and then Romeo stabs himself and Juliet dies too. For real this time.

 

Holy shit, people in the 1500s were hardcore. Not much has changed since then, attitude-wise.

 

Wait. 

 

Idea.

 

If only Jace was around so Raphael could tell him. Not that he'd listen, or even care, but still.

 

When the last bus leaves, Raphael decides that it's time to go home. His family will be wondering where he is, because Raphael is the kind of kid who never does anything without telling them first. But then: how do you explain this? Yeah, mom, I got paired up on an assignment with a guy I hate and then proceeded to wait for like an hour after school for him to show up like an idiot when I could have been at home, helping out or something. My actions here 100% make sense, I promise.

 

He makes it half-way down the block, right next to the CVS, when a hand touches his shoulder. "Hey, were you going to leave me?"

 

Raphael turns slowly. Jace is uncomfortably close. "You were the one who didn't show up. Was I supposed to wait three hundred years for you?"

 

There's a very full bag in his hand. Raphael fucking hates him.

 

"What were you doing? Shopping instead of, you know, actually helping me so we don't fail this assignment?"

 

Jace looks into his eyes and pulls out a bag of doritos. "I wouldn't let you starve. I mean, we're gonna be together for a while, we'll need something to eat. My place or yours?"

 

Raphael rolls his eyes. This can't be happening. It literally cannot be happening.

 

"So, here's a thought: why didn't you come pick me up and  _then_ go shopping?"

 

"With you?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Don't get any ideas, this isn't a date or anything. Unless, of course, you want it to be. I wouldn't be surprised, I _am_ pretty attractive."

 

This is the worst day of his  _entire life._ Dying would be more exciting than this.

 

"I'm going to call my mom and tell her I'll be home late. Then we're going over to your house and we're going to watch Romeo and Juliet and you're going to act like a normal human being. Got it?"

 

"Okay," Jace says, and fake-pouts. "I take it it's a no on the date thing?"

 

Raphael ignores him. If only he could take those stupid words out of his mouth, take off that stupid smile on his face. 

 

* * *

 

 

Jace's house is huge. It makes sense - his parents have three children, it pretty much has to be. But it looks exactly like the white, minimalist, ominously clean rooms that you see on fucking Pinterest. That's the entire house. That's Raphael's entire life.

 

Jace's room, though, is surprisingly different. Like, it's a little bit messy. Just a little bit. Just a  _tiny_ bit. There are a few things cluttering Jace's desk, and there are two shirts on his bed, and that's about it, but it's noticeable. Raphael has always loved cleanliness, but for some reason he pictured Jace's bedroom looking like the aftermath of a robbery or something - he has a little bit of  _respect_ for Jace now.

 

Again: just a little.

 

"I only have one chair," Jace says, gesturing to his desk, "so, you can sit on the bed if you want."

 

"How about  _you_ sit on the bed and I sit at your desk?" Raphael suggests. "I mean, I have a feeling that I'm the only one who'll be putting any kind of  _effort_ into this project."

 

"I don't want you on my laptop."

 

Raphael rolls his eyes. "Listen, I have a few ideas for the set. Do you want to hear them? Can we please act like normal people, set aside our differences, whatever, just for this project?"

 

"What's your idea?" Jace asks, and for a moment Raphael thinks he's actually going to try to be nice until he says, "I'd really like to hear your very interesting,  _wonderful,_ creative idea for this boring, cliche play."

 

"Would you shut the fuck u—"

 

"Remember, we're putting aside our differences."

 

Raphael glares at him and grabs the CVS bag. If he's forced to work with this incompetent asshole, then he'll do it on a full stomach, hopeful sugar rush.

 

Okay.

 

Shit.

 

There's a major problem here, and that problem has to do with the fact that there's a large, heart-shaped box of chocolates inside of the bag. It's  _huge._ Raphael doesn't know how it fit inside of the very small, fragile bag, but whatever. 

 

"Jace," he says, "why did you buy this? Because I can tell you right now, any girl you try to impress with these will take them out of your hands, slap you in the face, dump you, and then eat them alone in her room thinking, 'Man, that Jace Wayland, what an idiot.'"

 

"Oh, really?"

 

"If you gave them to me, that's what I'd do."

 

Jace stares at him. He's very good at staring at Raphael. "I, uh, just like chocolate, that's all."

 

"You really expect me to believe you bought this for yourself?"

 

Jace raises his eyebrows.

 

"Well, you  _are_ self-obsessed..."

 

"Hey, if you want them, go ahead and eat them. I bought a bunch of other stuff too, most of which I now refuse to share."

 

Raphael glares at him. Makes a point of staring right into his eyes just to make him uncomfortable. Then he takes the box and pops two heart-shaped chocolates right into his mouth, apparently still keeping eye contact with Jace because he's trying to piss Jace off, that's what he's trying to accomplish with this, yes.

 

"Are you gonna tell me what your idea is?" Jace says - weakly? -  _weakly._ Weakly! 

 

...Weakly.

 

Suspiciously weakly.

 

This is a very bad situation.

 

"Or do I need to guess?"

 

Raphael sighs. "Modern Romeo and Juliet," he says. "The party where they meet can be a club, or something like that. The costumes for the actors can be, I don't know, flashy and interesting instead of boring as fuck. Oh, of course, it'll  _have_ to align with the school's  _precious dress code,_ though."

 

Jace nods slightly. "Hey, that's not a bad idea. But Branwell would never go for it, she's too traditional."

 

"I have a feeling we can convince her."

 

"How?"

 

"Do you really think  _any_ kid in our school wants to dress up in sixteenth century clothes and drawl out words they don't understand like a robot? Everyone will be on board with it, she'll have no choice."

 

Jace smiles. "I like the way you think."

 

"Yeah, thanks."

 

Jace grabs his shoulder again, because apparently that's a thing he does now. "Hey, I have an idea."

 

"This isn't good," Raphael says, flicking Jace away.

 

"Shut up. I think we should rewrite the script."

 

Jace is out of his fucking mind. "What?'

 

"I was listening to what you said. No one understands that old dude's words, they're going to want something that makes sense. If we can convince Branwell to let us change the set and the costumes, we should change the script too, otherwise it'd be too weird."

 

Jace is right. Raphael hates admitting it, but Jace is right. Having a bunch of kids standing in a fake club with party clothes on saying shit like _my bounty is as boundless as the sea,_ _my love as deep; the more I give to thee_ would be really strange.

 

"Okay," he says. "How should we do it?"

 

"Wasn't there a movie?"

 

"The one with Leo DiCaprio?"

 

"Yeah, that one, sure."

 

"Wait," Raphael says, "you're not  _seriously_ suggesting—"

 

"Let's watch it."

 

"You know that the dialogue in this is the same as the play, right?" Raphael tells him. "They don't change it."

 

"Whatever," Jace says.

 

He grabs his laptop, sits down on his bed, and motions Raphael over.

 

"You're kidding," Raphael says. "If you think I'm sitting next to you on your bed and watching a movie with you—"

 

"Nowhere else," Jace says. "Alec and Izzy don't have chairs for me to borrow, and Maryse and Robert will frown disappointingly at me if I try to take one from the kitchen table. Sorry, this is just how it is."

 

This is very suspicious. Extremely suspicious.

 

Raphael sighs, and sits next to Jace because if he doesn't, he'll fail the class because that's how school works, obviously.

 

It's going to be a very long night.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Raphael is pretty sure that Jace is in love with him. Sure, it's a narcissistic and downright disgusting thought, but see: they're currently sitting at the same lunch table. Which is a unbelievable occurrence in and of itself, but he's watching Jace pull out several sketches from his backpack. Oh, and one of them is of Raphael. In what is supposed to be Romeo's costume, judging by Jace's terrible handwriting that says ROMEO in all caps on the right side of the page, and apparently, Romeo is wearing a tight, short-sleeved shirt with black and purple roses on it. It's something that Raphael would wear, sure, but for Romeo Montague - hell no.  

 

"Jace," he says sternly, "what is that?"

 

"Romeo's costume."

 

"I got that. I mean: why am  _I_ wearing it? Last time I checked, I'm not Simon. You know, the play's  _actual_ Romeo."

 

"Well," Jace says, "I meant to draw Simon, but I thought that if I drew you, it'd just piss you off, and I love seeing you pissed off."

 

"Uh-huh, I bet."

 

"What's  _that_ supposed to mean?" Jace asks, and Raphael can't tell if it's serious or fake. Knowing Jace, it's probably a mixture of both, which is exactly what makes him so dangerous.

 

"Shut up and show me the sketches."

 

Raphael hates it, but Jace is actually a pretty good artist. He hands Raphael a drawing of his interpretation of the party scene - paper mache disco ball, hand-painted dance floor, strobe lights, DJ table. It's genius. Or: it would be, in a world where Raphael isn't stubborn as fuck. Jace may be a good artist, but Raphael is good with words.

 

"How are we going to get all of this?" Raphael asks.

 

"I'm pretty sure Magnus can get us some DJ equipment and the school has strobe lights, so I just figured we'd make the rest of it."

 

Raphael's lips curl. He  _should_ be saying stuff like: fuck no, I'm not doing anything with you. But, for some reason, he doesn't mind. "We have to get her approval first. If we don't, she'll kill us."

 

"Yeah, true. Good thing we have drama next period, huh?"

 

He pats Raphael's shoulder and Raphael wants to rip his tattooed arms right off of his body.

 

"Okay," Raphael says, "but if she does agree,  _I'm_ getting the costumes."

 

"What's wrong with mine?" Jace says, and does that stupid fake pout thing again that makes Raphael crazy.

 

"It looks like something I'd wear," he tells Jace. 

 

"Yeah, and? You're pretty well-dressed."

 

"I know. It's too good of an outfit. Straight guys always look horrible."

 

Jace laughs. Shit, Jace  _laughs._ Raphael expects a  _dude, I didn't need to know that,_ or something, but-

 

But all that Jace says is: "Come on, you think Romeo's straight? It's  _Shakespeare,_ dude."

 

Raphael is surprised. Jace just continues to surprise him. "Okay, true," he laughs, and when Jace walks away to sit with Alec, Isabelle, and Clary, he feels a little bit -  _disappointed?_

 

Disappointed.

 

This isn't good.

 

* * *

 

 Further evidence that Jace is in love with him: they catch Ms. Branwell before the start of class. Not too bad, right? Yeah, you'd think. They catch Ms. Branwell before the start of class, and the first thing that Jace says to her is: "We came up with some ideas together. Actually, it was mostly Raphael, but whatever."

 

Raphael stares at him, but Jace - because he's  _Jace -_ completely takes over and explains the entire thing to her.  _I know it sounds crazy but just listen, okay?_

 

And then, without the need of a entire-class vote, Ms. Branwell smiles and says, "That's a wonderful idea. I'm glad you two are working well together."

 

Jace gives him a  _Holy Shit That Was Easier Than I Thought It Would Be_ look, and Raphael nods in agreement, because holy shit, it was easier than they thought it would be.

 

"Meet me after school again," Jace whispers before he goes to his desk. "I have... a surprise."

 

* * *

 

So: yeah, the concept of Jace Wayland "surprising" him should've been his first clue that Bad Shit Is Going To Go Down, but apparently Raphael is too stuck up in his own whatever-this-is-not- _feelings-_ because-that-would-be-disgusting to actually be like, "Hey, no, tell me what the fuck you're planning or I'm asking for a different partner on his project." So really, it's his fault that Jace decided to drag him to (a suspiciously empty) Walmart under the guise of - get this, this is what Jace actually told him - "studying objects for the set."

 

To which, of course, Raphael replied, "You know we can just use the internet for that, right?"

 

And Jace, of course, ignored him. Of course.

 

"Jace," he says finally, because apparently this stuff takes a lot of courage, "I'm going home. You can stay here for the rest of the night, I don't care. There's a reason you brought me here, and I know it isn't school-related."

 

Jace looks at him. "Yeah? What do you think that is?"

 

"You can stop pretending to hate me now. This is your fucked up version of a date."

 

Jace sighs and -  _trembles?_

 

"I don't hate you. Well, not  _completely._ And - date? Seriously?"

 

"I know," Raphael says. "Just admit it and stop being creepy. I already know you're in love with me—"

 

"I am  _not_ in love with you," Jace interrupts. "You're full of yourself."

 

Raphael smirks. He pats Jace's shoulder in the signature Jace way, as a sort of  _fuck you._ Because now he's the one patting the shoulder, because for once Raphael Santiago has no words.

 

"You're not even gonna argue with me?"

 

"So, you're telling me if I kissed you right now, you'd be disgusted?"

 

The words flow out of Raphael's mouth so quickly that he feels like his entire body is spinning. This is the worst situation possible. This is the worst fucking situation he could ever possibly be in. But he's in it, and it's  _his_ fault, so he'll suffer the consequences.

 

"You hate me. I dare you to do it."

 

Maybe the consequences won't be that bad.

 

"Oh, so you do want me to kiss you? That's very contradictory to what you just said."

 

"No, I just think it'd be pretty fucking hilarious seeing you making out with a guy who you completely despise."

 

"You think I despise you?"

 

"You act like it."

 

Raphael sighs. "I don't."

 

Jace looks at the ground for a moment. "Then do it anyway."

 

_Okay,_ Raphael thinks, and something like:  _this will piss him off so bad._ Even though he knows that Jace  _wants it,_ even though he knows that he's totally into Raphael and is the worst at hiding his feelings, Raphael needs to convince himself that he's just doing this to piss off Jace. Because yeah, he's hot and actually really smart, and  _so what,_ Raphael is still in denial about his Big Gay Feelings for Jace Wayland that have apparently been there since the beginning of time, shit.

 

And then he's pulling Jace closer and having his very first kiss in the middle of a fucking Walmart. 

 

Oh, and Jace is a surprisingly good kisser. He's an  _amazing_ kisser. He's passionate and kind but when Raphael pulls away, because he's Jace, he says: "Your first kiss, huh?"

 

"I know I wasn't good," Raphael says, "shut up."

 

"It's okay," Jace smiles. "We'll just need to work on it. A lot. I think we should work on it a lot."

 

"I think so, too," Raphael says, and smiles for the first time in what feels like his entire life.

 

* * *

 

 

The play - of course, because they produced it - is beautiful. It gets on the local newspaper, even.

 

Raphael and Jace watch it with their hands clasped together.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I LOVE JAPHAEL THEY NEED MORE LOVE WHO WANTS TO TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS SHIP I'M ON TUMBLR AT FEDYADOLOKHOV DOT TUMBLR DOT COM TALK TO ME . PLease . I love them


End file.
